Hawthorne Race Course

SUNTRACER GETS UP IN NICK OF TIME

STICKNEY, IL – Team Block’s Suntracer, trained by Chris Block, eked out a neck victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Robert F. Carey Memorial Handicap at Hawthorne. It was the 29th running of this mile and an eighth turf race.

Favored Suntracer had been far back, trailing the field in fact, but the pace up front was blazing and his regular rider had the leaders perfectly measured.

Winning rider Eddie Perez, “We were sitting pretty good. The pace was setting up. I got him into good position, where I knew I could make a good run at the leaders. He’s a game horse and he seemed to know where the finish line was.”

Chris Block, trainer Suntracer: "We're proud of the horse. He trained really well coming to it, and ran like I hoped he would. He got a pace today which is unusual for him. A lot of cases he'll get a slow pace like he did last time, so when he got those fractions I thought that it set up nice for him. He likes to win, he's tenacious. He comes from the family of Taxable Deduction, his mom, Leading Astray, Free Fighter and Corrupt."

Nikki’s Sandcastle was narrowly beaten and rider Rosemary Homeister was ecstatic about the effort of her mount. “I had a really good trip. I mean the pace was fast. My horse has some speed too but David (Kassen) said to just stay out of there and to see how it sets up and so I just sat, probably four or five lengths behind the pace, which was perfect. I got hung wide going into the three-eighths pole but then he came running again and fought it out until the end. We just got beat in the last two or so jumps. David had conditioned him well for this race. We just got beat by the winner. The owners asked me to ride him back again and I’m so pleased.”

Israel Ocampo, third on Tazz: "I had a good trip, it was a really fast pace early on. Christine (trainer Janks) told me to try to sit in second or third and try to save some ground, and that's what I did."

Suntracer has now earned $398,898 with his winner’s share of the $100,000 purse.

They got the mile and eighth in 1:48.75 after brisk fractions of :22.88, :46.93, 1:11.36 and 1:36.29.

Suntracer paid $6.20, $3.60 and $3.00. Nikki’s Sandcastle paid $4.20 and $3.20. Tazz held on for third and paid $4.20.

Live racing at Hawthorne takes place five days a week and concludes Sunday, December 30. Live racing will be conducted every Wednesday-Sunday. First post daily is 2:10 pm. Hawthorne Race Course is located in Stickney IL at 3501 S. Laramie Ave. For information on live racing or groups at Hawthorne Race Course, contact Hawthorne at 708-780-3700 or visit Hawthorne online at www.Hawthorneracecourse.com.